Who is Behind the Screen? Critical Analysis of Educational Experiences in Pandemic

Abstract

From the framework of the pandemic, this paper desires to reveal Who is behind the screen? The objective is to analyze from empathy the personal experiences related to the educational role of teachers and students. From the referential expressions to the affective, cognitive, and social components of integrative empathy, an intervention was made with a group of participants, ten teachers, and 47 students, in the virtual educational project  “Technopedagogical Cafe” in which they opened spaces for expression and dialogue. With a qualitative and interpretive methodology of constant comparison, differences were found in empathy between the people behind the screens linked to the educational role they play. From teaching, empathy is framed in commitment to the professional ethos, openness to change, resignification of learning for life, and recognition of the student as a person. From the student body, it is framed in the relationship with their peers by valuing new experiences and learning and in a gradual and continuous process of adaptation that demands receiving empathy from teachers, but without reciprocity towards them. In both actors, the need to move to empathic action as part of the training processes in the new educational normality is revealed.